The human protagonist who is physically altered and healed by her Oankali mate Nikanj. She is tasked with awakening and preparing human survivors for a new life on Earth, acting as their 'parent' and leader while facing their mistrust and violence.

The first Oankali Lilith interacts with. He explains the nature of the ship, the Oankali's division, and their intention to trade genetics with humanity. He also offers Lilith a painless death if she truly wishes it.

An older Oankali who advises Nikanj and explains to Lilith the chemical bond she has formed with Nikanj, as well as her new role as a 'parent' to the awakened humans.

Jdahya's female mate, a large silent presence who shares meals with the family.

Lilith's ooloi mate who reveals the living, bioluminescent nature of the village's housing to Tino, draws him into a profound bonding connection, and acts as a surrogate parent during Ahajas's childbirth.

An angry Human man who accuses Jodahs of being patronizing and insists Humanity will prove the Oankali wrong about their self-destructive nature.

A Japanese man who lived awake among the Oankali for 60 years, rarely seeing other humans, and died at age 120.

A human male awakened at fourteen and kept isolated for years by the Oankali. He attempts to rape Lilith to produce children normally, beating her severely when she resists.

A small human woman awakened by Lilith from a translucent green plant in the wall. She is frightened and struggles to assist with subsequent awakenings.

A resister woman who refuses to help Akin return home out of loyalty to her people, later leading him back to his family when they arrive at the salvage site.

A human woman who violently attacks Lilith immediately after being awakened but is easily subdued due to Lilith's enhanced strength.

A physically impressive and dangerous human who replaces Peter as leader, hacks Joseph to death with an ax, and nearly severs Nikanj's sensory arm in a hostile confrontation.

A pragmatic human who deduces their captors' genetic intentions and supports a 'learn and run' strategy. He is targeted by other men, prompting Nikanj to forcibly drug him and bond with him via profound neural stimulation.

A human survivor awakened by Lilith who pairs with Tate and sides with Lilith's group of waiting for an escape opportunity.

A human survivor who avoids men and action, siding with Lilith out of a desire for peace and survival.

A lawyer with missing fingers whom Lilith evaluates for awakening. He had threatened to kill his captors and proved formidable in solitary confinement.

An angry survivor whose broken arm is healed by the Oankali, but who later violently attacks his own ooloi in his sealed room and is killed by its defensive sting.

A human survivor taken and held by the Oankali, whose disappearance is framed by Peter as a martyrdom.

Lilith's highly perceptive, infant construct son. He is abducted by human raiders, attempts to reason with them to save a dying man, and later uses his heightened senses to investigate an abandoned resister village.

A human resister who wanders into Lilith's village. He criticizes their seemingly primitive lifestyle, eventually bonds with Nikanj and Lilith, and is later brutally attacked by human raiders who abduct Akin.

Akin's male Oankali parent. He discovers a critically injured Tino, stabilizes him by physically linking to his nervous system, and later supports his mate Ahajas as she gives birth.

An Oankali female in Lilith's family who suggests reaching out to human resisters, and later gives birth to a child while physically supported by Dichaan and Nikanj.

A human inhabitant of the village who keeps the guest house, is paired with a woman named Leah, and defends the community's way of life to Tino.

The oldest construct adult in Lo, born in Chkahichdahk, who counsels Akin and Tiikuchahk to find a subadult ooloi to help resolve their broken bond.

One of Akin's abductors who initially displays minor kindness but recoils in deep disgust when the infant Akin speaks and suggests an ooloi heal their sick companion.

The raider who severely injured Tino. He speaks a little German, views Akin merely as a baby, and reads an abandoned record book in Hillmann village.

A Spanish-speaking raider from Chile who carries Akin into the Hillmann village and is the first to recognize that the settlement is unnaturally empty.

A Spanish-speaking raider from Argentina who travels with Akin's abductors and nervously investigates the abandoned Hillmann village.

A human raider who suspects Akin's superior construct abilities and demands they put Akin down to use him to track the mysteries of the empty village.

A kidnapped construct child with sensory tentacles, paired sibling to Shkaht, who swims well and relies on her sibling to breathe underwater.

Amma's paired sibling, who helps comfort Amma and breathe for her underwater while held captive by resisters.

A small, pale, yellow-haired human doctor in Phoenix who tends to Akin during his metamorphosis and reluctantly agrees to go to Mars.

A resister woman determined to remove the construct girls' tentacles to make them look human, suggesting they use corn whiskey to sedate them.

A resister who stays with the salvage group, catching Akin tasting a perfume bottle and questioning his alien impulses.

Akin's unbonded, paired sibling who is distressed by the changes happening around them and insists on accompanying Akin to Chkahichdahk.

Akin's older sister who is beginning her metamorphosis, revealing her hands have lost their extra fingers.

An ancient, caterpillarlike Oankali who did not interbreed with Humanity, serving as Akin's advocate during the consensus regarding the resisters' fate.

An ooloi child who closely bonds with Akin on the ship and supports his mission to help the human resisters.

The first-person narrator, a newly transitioning construct ooloi, who explains the future of Earth to human resisters and navigates its own emerging alien physical traits.

An unstable ooloi construct undergoing a dangerous metamorphosis who transforms to look almost identical to Jodahs but smells wrong to Humans, suffering deeply from lack of mates.

A human female headed for Mars who was healed by Jodahs; she discovers Jodahs is an ooloi and is unexpectedly attracted to it.

An injured human male whose leg is regenerated by Jodahs, but who vehemently hates ooloi due to his belief that they emasculate human men.

An adult ooloi mated to the human Wray Ordway, who agrees to genetically adjust Marina to ensure her safe future childbirths.

The sentient, living platform/entity that functions as a town and parent/sibling to the constructs, taking physical damage from Jodahs's uncontrolled metabolic changes.

A human female from a hidden mountain village, sister to Tomás, who struggles with the taboo of bonding with an ooloi but becomes biochemically and emotionally addicted to Jodahs.

Jesusa's brother, who is healed of blindness and tumors by Jodahs, and agrees to stay and become its mate during its metamorphosis.

A guard who captures Jesusa and Tomás.

A guard who captures Jesusa and touches her, causing her distress.

A human who is healed by Jodahs and strategically suggests keeping Jodahs and Aaor in the village.

A human who shares his home with Aaor and becomes one of its mates.

A human female who is healed by Aaor and becomes its mate.

A village elder and long-time resister who is won over by Jodahs and reconsiders leaving for Mars.

A human whose tumors are healed by Aaor.

A hunchback human, brother to Rafael, who is partially healed by Aaor.

A formerly deaf human who is healed.

Francisco's mate who desires to have her fertility restored to have a construct child.